A hearty season’s greetings to all my smart and attractive readers – yes, that’s you! Read on for a special Kingsday surprise to one and all – and no, it’s NOT the Kingdsay Tuna!
Hey, look! Holiday Minion and Delivery Minion are ringing in the “finis anni” with the Planar Sphere! The Knights are going to love this postcard! What once was the “invincible” Reinen’s power source is now finding just as important use as a cool sign for the new year!
Anyway, let’s talk about important things…
The Year: Coming and Passing
It’s been such an honor to talk about cool stuff, publish books, and spend time with you all in the Facebook group and discord server for another year. Thanks so much for your thoughts, feelings, and emails.
Anyway, I’ve been sniffing around the internet for some time, and I feel like with the holidays, we as a society are trending more to the dire than the positive recently. I’m privy to the current stink on Facebook, Twitter, and less reputable places across the internet claiming genuine concern with how the world is going.
To that, I say hog-honks!
We can always find cause to panic if we bend our ears to the cries of crisis, and ignoring them is the wrong thing to do – it’s our responsibility as humans to stay abreast of what’s going on around us, as well as understand things that may affect us.
With that noted, we are also responsible for not selling our peace away to the constant storms of life. Those apocalypse peddlers are in a constant battle for your attention, and with your attention, they gain notoriety: one of the hidden and nefarious powers used by manipulators of dear humanity.
Make no mistake, Reader: a great world, and as such a great life, does not start with the state of the world, rather it starts with the state of you.
You are the one that decides what blades, both real and abstract, cut into you – to quote an old Greek: you are not harmed until you decide you have been.
Have hope for the future, fight constantly to improve your own little patch of the world: if everyone did that we genuinely would work towards the common good of humanity – one less problem a thousand miles away is one less problem for a nation, which is one less problem for partner nations giving them support.
Work on your own patch, because the way will come when you may need to share it with someone in need. To learn new things and put them to practice secures not only your future, but the future of those around you – in your family, and in your community.
Be aware of the world, but don’t dance to their tune – you are always what you choose to be, and I’d like to encourage you to not play into their endless puppet show. You can always choose to believe that things are better than they are, or you can choose to believe that things are much worse – but unless you arrive at those conclusions from a place of growth, from a place fighting for the peace and prosperity of your little patch, how can you truly know?
Don’t allow your suffering to be abstract: carve out your own world and share it with others: That’s how one changes the world.
Your ultimate responsibility is to act on your volition: your dreams for yourself and others. That’s why I started writing, and that’s why you should continue fighting, planning, and working toward your better tomorrow. If you’re not sure where to start, the internet: our greatest tool and hindrance in one bright-screened package, can point you the way.
It’s such a pleasure to be able to work on these stories and make a world we can share. I’m looking forward to spending another year with you. Let’s make 2023 our most legendary yet!
Now, for the big news of the month…
Release of the month: Golden Tattoo Anthology
You betcha!
European Publisher Butterdragons invited me to submit to their themed anthology – what I hear to be their very last ever! So… I did, and the short story is exclusive to this book.
Golden Tattoo is an eye-popping collection of fine fiction compiled from a handful of authors under the Butterdragons (still getting used to the name) label – a multi-genre feast of delicious stories, just in time for the turn of the year. Granted, it was originally intended to be a Halloween anthology, but good things take time, you know how it is.
You can get your own copy on several sites (no amazon link yet) and find my short story The Crime here: https://books2read.com/BDP-Golden-Tattoo.
We all know High Overlord Chaos isn’t much for coffee.
In fact, some might even say to sip it in front of his majesty is practically asking to have one’s skeleton forcibly ejected from their body.
What happens when… say, someone attempts to frame someone using this particular beverage-dynamic?
Secret associations, a multi-layered mystery, a waterfall of hilarity, a very clever minion, and Knight Law’s return can all be found within The Crime, only available in Golden Tattoo! Pick it up and thank me later – everyone in the anthology is good, but do note that it’s a multi-genre anthology, so I can’t guarantee you’ll love everything in there if you only like, say, fantasy sci-fi.
Now without further ado:
Releases: 2022
Hey, that rhymed!
Novels:
1: Voidthrone: Courts Divided Book 4
2: Certain Vengeance: Soot Knight Book 3
Shorts and other stuff:
–Reflections: The Artist (an Order short)
-The Crime (which, again, you can find only in the Golden Tattoo anthology)
-A huge amount of character and lore entries
If I’m being honest with myself, this was kind of a skim year. I fell victim to the typical creative-type pitfall of having too many project that you want to complete, and then just slamming my face in with a brick over and over until the injuries begin to form the words that I’ll press onto the page. Yes, I can always produce some mid-tier excuse like “ooooh work was too haaaard” or “wowie ‘political event’ caused ‘problem’ that prevents me from managing myself,” but in all frankness I’m always responsible for my actions.
I’ll continue battling the inner demons and finding ways to deliver as much of The Work as possible without sacrificing quality. I’ve caught myself resting and wallowing too much this year in comparison to my others. A lot has happened this year, and I realize now that I’ve been licking my wounds for too long. I have to push on and complete my projects as they come, rather than switching between things constantly like I have been. We could have had as many as two extra novels this year if I simply concentrated my efforts properly – that’s like double, and I consider that to be important.
Hope your season’s been the best it’s ever been. Bless you. Let’s press on into the horizon for yet another year!
Your ever-dedicated fictionitizer,
Kell Inkston
Coffee... WRITING!... COFFEE!! 